


Death #103

by Nerdist



Category: Milo Murphy's Law
Genre: Angst With A Bittersweet Ending, Cav Dies Again, God Dammit Cav, M/M, Post Fungus Among Us
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-28
Updated: 2018-01-28
Packaged: 2019-03-10 11:26:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13500818
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nerdist/pseuds/Nerdist
Summary: Welp, Cav dies again. But this time, there's no going back. At least for now...





	Death #103

**Author's Note:**

> I'm really sorry for all the feels guys. You can blame my roommate for this one.

It all happened so fast, Dakota couldn’t keep up with his thoughts. One minute, the two time travelers were searching for potential time juice ingredients for Dr. Doofenshmirtz and the next, they were running from a scouting party of pistashions.

 

“Blast it all, Dakota! I thought you were on the lookout for these beasts!” Cavendish shouted.

 

“I was! It’s like they just popped out of the ground and found us!” Dakota protested, then chuckled, “Get it? Because they’re trees?”

 

“This is not the time for joking around, you buffoon! And yes, I get it!”

 

Dakota gave a cheeky grin and continued searching for a place where they could find weapons. Spotting a rundown sportswear store, Dakota grabbed his partner’s arm and made a sharp right, nearly dragging Cavendish inside. Thankfully, the few windows the store had were too small for the pistashions to climb through and they quickly blocked the front entrance with a nearby shelf. The two time travelers could hear the monsters’ angry screams as they tried to break down the door. It shuddered under the strain, but it didn’t fall. The two men sighed in relief. 

 

“Okay,” Dakota wheezed as he tried to get some air back into his lungs, “we’ve gotta look for weapons if we don’t want to be stuck in here forever. Why don’t you keep a lookout this time while I find some sweet gear for us?”

 

“Very well,” Cavendish replied, only slightly out of breath from running for their lives. “At least I will pay attention to our surroundings.”

 

“I told you, Cav, those nut jobbers came out of nowhere! I don’t know how I didn’t spot them… Well, they are trees, so they are probably really good at camouflage.”

 

His partner groaned at the terrible joke and Dakota couldn’t help the silly grin he had on his face. Teasing Cavendish was always fun, even in such tense situations. It helped lighten the mood and Dakota appreciated how disgruntled and dramatic Cavendish got.

 

“Just go find some weapons so that we can get out of here and I don’t have to listen to any more of your appalling jokes.”

 

Dakota laughed, “Okay, I’m going, I’m going.”

 

Dakota began wandering down the aisles and pondered out loud, “Alright, let’s see what we got here. Softballs, baseballs, golf balls, basketballs, footballs… There are too many balls here, Cav. I don’t need this many balls in my life, I’m good with the ones I have.”

 

A soft snicker hit Dakota’s ears and he exclaimed, “Hey, you laughed at one of my jokes!”

 

“I would never!” came his indignant reply.

 

“You so did! I heard you!”

 

“You didn’t see me laugh, so you can’t prove whether or not I did.”

           

“What you just said proves it. Admit it, Cav, you love my jokes.”

 

“I will not dignify that falsehood with a response,” he grumbled.

           

“Yeah, yeah,” Dakota muttered. “You keep telling yourself that.”

           

At least he’d made his partner laugh and that warmed Dakota’s heart. He hadn’t heard it since the whole pistachion takeover started. Laughter was hard to come by these days, so he savored it whenever he heard it. Dakota got back to the task at hand and looked up and down the aisles for something they could use. Out of the corner of his eye, he found some steel baseball bats.

 

“Score! Now we’re talking!”

           

He was about to pick up two bats when he heard something growl behind him. “Vinnie! Look out!”

           

Suddenly, Dakota was shoved out of the way and rolling on the floor. He quickly got back on his feet and turned around to see a pistashion pinning his partner to the ground with one branchy arm against his chest. Dakota didn’t hesitate before grabbing a bat and swinging it at the creature as hard as he could, delivering a solid whack to its head. The mutated pistachio plant screeched in pain and stumbled away from Cavendish, who didn’t seem to be moving. Unfortunately, Dakota couldn’t worry about that now since the monster already recovered and launched itself at him.

 

“Ah crap!” he exclaimed.

 

Dakota dodged the attack, though barely, and swiftly turned around to bring another swing down onto its back. The beast cried out once more and Dakota began running towards the back of the store, hoping to get the monster away from Cavendish. He heard thunderous footsteps behind him, meaning it was already on his heels. Once at the back of the store, Dakota realized the door was open.

 

‘Oh, you gotta be kidding me!’ he thought, ‘Me and Cav should’ve checked the perimeter.’ Dakota’s thoughts were interrupted when the pistashion brought a clawed hand down the middle of his back. He yelped and let out a string of curses as he tumbled to the ground. He flipped himself over in time see that the monster was almost upon him. Dakota held up a hand, stopping the now confused pistashion in its tracks.

 

“Woah woah woah,” Dakota said, “Before you take me in and body snatch me, I gotta say something.”

 

The mutated pistachio plant rolled its eyes and crossed its arms.

 

“And what would that be?” it replied in a nasally voice.

 

“What is every single tree’s least favorite month?”

 

“Huh, I don’t know,” the pistashion pondered, “Personally, mine is November because all my leaves fall off and I feel so expo-”

 

Before the beast could finish its statement, Dakota smacked it with all of his might and sent it sprawling out the entryway. Dakota slammed the door before the monster could even think of getting back inside, locked it, and pushed a shelf in front of it.

 

“By the way,” Dakota yelled, hoping the pistashion could hear him, “The month trees hate the most is SepTIMBER! Get it? ‘Cause you fell! Also your kind gets cut down!”

 

Ignoring the furious shouts and the shuttering of the door, Dakota checked around the store in case there were any other unwanted visitors. Thankfully, it seemed like only the one pistashion was smart enough to go through the back door. Dakota made his way back to Cavendish.

 

“Alright, coast is clear! Man, Cav you really saved my butt on that one. Thanks for having my-”

           

The last word caught in his throat when he saw that Cavendish was still lying on the ground where he left him in a pool of what could only be his own blood. Thankfully, Cavendish’s eyes were closed so that he wouldn’t have to look into his lifeless eyes. When Dakota could actually see the body that was always the worst part of his partner’s constant deaths.

 

Dakota sighed, “Oh geez. Cav, not now.”

 

Dakota dropped his bat and kneeled by his head, checking Cavendish’s neck for a pulse. However, judging by the gaping hole in his chest, his partner was not very likely to have one. When the pistashion had pinned him to the ground, it must have misjudged its own strength and punched a hole right through Cavendish. If Cavendish hadn’t pushed him out of the way, that would have been Dakota lying on the ground. Dakota sighed and sat down, not caring if blood got onto his tracksuit.

 

“You did always want to be the hero. Didn’t expect you to be a self-sacrificing dingus… But don’t worry, Cav, once I lose these nut jobbers, I’ll get back to the time machine and bring-”

           

Dakota froze, the harsh reality of their situation setting in. They went on this mission to fix their time machine; there was no time machine he could use.

 

“I… I can’t go back. I have no time machine, I can’t go back and save you. I…” Dakota curled in on himself, burying his hands into his hair as he stammered, “I-I can’t go back. I literally- I literally can’t go back. I can’t save you anymore. Y-you won’t be… you won’t…”

           

He felt something wet on his face and Dakota loosened the death grip he had on his hair to touch his face. He was… crying? He hadn’t cried since death number 26 when Cavendish got hit by a car while they were in a heated argument. At least then Dakota had been able to go back and fix everything, but now… he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t go back. Dakota trembled as the tears began to flow harder.

 

“Why?” Dakota glared at Cavendish’s dead body, “Why is it the one time you save me, you had to die? Why did you have to die, Cavendish? Why why why why!”

           

Dakota suddenly stood up, pacing and tearing at his hair. “Why do you always leave me, Cav?! Over and over, I’ve tried saving you, only for you to die again! Why is it that the one time you are a self-sacrificing idiot, I can’t save you!? WHY? It should have been me, Cav! It should have been ME!” he screamed, his body singing a duet of despair and rage.

           

But Cavendish didn’t have an answer for him… He couldn’t answer him. Dakota will no longer hear his partner’s snarky yet witty response to his jokes. He could never tease Cav again and see his reaction. He’ll never again experience those rare times when Cavendish would let loose and join him in fun activities or just being goofy. Cav would never again give him one of those soft, once in a blue moon smiles that made his heart ache and had Dakota fall just a bit more in love with him. Cavendish will never know just how much Dakota loved him.

           

That final thought sent him collapsing to the ground, sobs wracking his body and tears streaming down his face as he gathered Cavendish’s body into his arms and held on tight. Dakota stayed in that position for what felt like hours, crying until he had no tears left to give and then sitting there numbly, letting his sorrow wash over him. A buzz from his pocket startled him back into reality and gently put his partner down before checking his phone. There were five messages from Milo, each one becoming more concerned for the two time travelers’ safety. Tears began to well up in his eyes again when he saw Cav’s name within the texts. Dakota gave a watery sigh and sent a quick text saying, ‘be back soon.’ Cavendish’s death was not something he wanted to explain over text. He’d have to leave the body here, no matter how much it killed him to do so. There was no way Dakota could bring Cavendish back without getting caught, so he did what he could. He dragged Cavendish’s body to the nearest storage room so the pistashions would hopefully not find him.

 

When he was finished, Dakota cleared his throat and said, “I’m sorry that this isn’t a proper funeral, Cav, but after this mess, I’m giving you one. I promise.” He paused for a second, gathering his thoughts, “But I also want you to know that if we can fix the time machine, I will come back for you. I don’t care if it takes me 20 years or if it ruins the space-time continuum. I will come back for you.”

 

He kneeled down one last time and placed a soft kiss on Cavendish’s forehead. “I mean, you’re Cavendish,” Dakota whispered. “What am I going to do without you?”

 

With that, Dakota got up, looked at his partner’s body one last time, and shut the door to the storage room. After locking the door, Dakota grabbed another baseball bat and headed towards the front entrance. While the pistashions were no longer banging to get in, there was still a good chance they were out there waiting for him. He moved the shelf barricade to the side and stood in front of the entryway.

 

Taking a deep breath and hefting his bat, he said, “Let’s cut down some mother-fucking trees,” and opened the door.


End file.
